Toyota had two engineers (pictured at left) talk about their use of Lean Startup methods to help develop a new dashboard mobile entertainment system, including their admission that their team in Mountain View, CA had never talked to customers before.

Brian Frezza of Emerald Therapeutics talked about using Lean Startup concepts to improve a biotech research process for new medications

Robin Chase‘s story about the original “minimum viable product” for ZipCar (one car parked in front of her house with keys on her porch)

How GE is embracing Lean Startup concepts in the design and manufacturing of new products

Other examples from non-profit organizations and government initiatives

I will write some longer blog posts about some of these talks soon.

I think my breakout session talk on continuous improvement went well. I’ll consider it a success if I hear people from startups utilizing Kaizen methods in their organizations (and hopefully we’ll hear reports of this at next year’s conference, if not sooner).

Some tweets that encapsulated some key points, thanks to those who shared: